The year 2008 was a time security threats and malicious activity reached a tipping point, and 2009 stands to be the year critical infrastructure systems become prime targets for cyber criminals and the global financial crisis will be exploited for a variety of malicious activities, according to a new report released from VeriSign iDefense Security Intelligence Services, a provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world.

The report, "2009 Cyber Threats and Trends" seeks to aid education efforts about cyber security threats facing networks, enterprises and end-users by highlighting important trends that emerged in 2008, and attempts to predict security trends and disruptors that may develop in 2009 with lasting consequences for businesses in the coming decade.

Over the course of the past year, the report said, cyber crimes continued to increase in both frequency and severity thanks to new exploits and organizations to perpetrate them. Cyber Cartels, groups of young and modern cyber criminals likened by VeriSign iDefense to drug cartels of the 1980s, targeted commercial -- not individual -- banking accounts for fraud operations and security measures meant to protect those accounts and routinely defeated the protections.

Additionally, cyber warfare has become a reality in today's political climate, and several regions are seeing a rise in politically and financially motivated activities. According to VeriSign iDefense, Russian hackers are the most effective group when it comes to cyber fraud, while Chinese hackers utilize amateur hacking groups for low-level espionage operations.

"The cyber security landscape has fundamentally changed where 'script kiddies' no longer perpetrate the lion's share of malicious activity online," said Jason Greenwood, vice president and general manager, VeriSign iDefense Security Intelligence Services. "Professionalized cyber criminals, the rise of cyber cartels or extremists using online fraud as a means to fund their operations, and cyber espionage and warfare show how we have entered a new era of online security threats."

2009 Predictions and Long-Term Disruptors include: